We hope you have enjoyed Turning Arrows into Flowers with us this week! 🏹 🌸🌺🌼
A big thanks to Yashobodhi, for providing us with the inspiring Dharma talks and for the live Q+A on Sunday (recording to follow soon!). If you haven’t already had a listen, do check out the podcast where she talks about the Seven Point Mind Training - and beautifully makes a connection between them and the myth of Rumpelstiltskin!
Shraddhapushpa’s funeral service and burial will take place at Epping Forest on Thursday 28 May at 3 pm. This will of necessity be attended by just a small group of family and close friends.
The funeral cortege will be passing along Roman Road past the London Buddhist Centre at 2pm; if you are able, this is an opportunity for you to pay your respects to Shraddhapushpa on her last journey. Please...
“What is so special about me?” - Shantideva’s Perfection of Meditation
In the penultimate talk in his series devoted to the Bodhicaryavatara, Padmavajra explores chapter eight, the Perfection of Meditation (dhyana paramita). In this chapter, Shantideva tells us that in order to go deeply into meditation, we need to go into the solitude of body and mind, renouncing all worldly attachments and the usual way in which we relate to others. Having doing that, he shows how to develop an...
Coming to the end of the ‘Transforming Arrows into Flowers’ Home retreat, it is always useful to dwell on any benefits you have received from the week. Perhaps you would like to make a few changes to your life – such as less time checking your emails; or ‘doing nothing’ for ten minutes each day. You may wish to write these down and keep them by your bed or on your fridge as a reminder. Telling other people can also...
During the March Area College gathering for the UK, Ireland and Europe, Kamalashila attended for an evening to have a farewell following his retirement from the Preceptors’ College at the end of last year. He was able to share some of his current threads of practice and inspiration, and a number of those present rejoiced in him. Here we share two of those contributions from Sanghadevi and Satyaraja.
I first met Kamalashila in the early part of 1980...
During the March Area College gathering for the UK, Ireland and Europe, Kamalashila attended for an evening to have a farewell following his retirement from the Preceptors’ College at the end of last year. He was able to share some of his current threads of practice and inspiration, and a number of those present rejoiced in him. Here we share two of those contributions from Sanghadevi and Satyaraja.
I have been with Kamalasila in meetings of the College and originally of the College...
Upekkha is a fire in the heart that is steady and constant. Dayajoti gives us a beautiful description of the wisdom aspect of metta, that being upekkha, equanimity.
We’ve come to the end of our week together looking at training the mind to greater happiness using new ways of engaging with our experience in the world. To gather the threads of the practice together Yashobodhi reflects on some key, pithy lojong reminders that capture the great efficacy and delight of this work – and which we can carry with us well beyond these days with confidence.
“Set your goal – make use of every day and night to achieve it!”
During this home retreat we have been exploring the bodhicitta - the deep, heartfelt desire for all beings to be free from suffering and to be happy and free. Remembering that we can dedicate our practice to all living beings you may wish to finish your day with a ritual of Transference of Merit and Self-Surrender (the last section in the Sevenfold Puja).
En snabb visit till Dharmagiri med Harri. Lite fix och trix. Tyvärr fastnade inte Ratnasara på bild denna gång, men vi kan rapportera att hon stortrivs och har ett jämt flöde av besökare, som hjälper till med allehanda ting.
